Microsoft has released Build 10122 of its Windows 10 Insider Preview Edition, to what used to be called beta testers in the Fast Ring. Those who opt to remain in the Slow Ring won’t see it yet, as they’re supposed to see less frequent, but more stable, preview releases. But the last Slow Ring build I installed (10074) was so unstable for me, I moved to the fast ring and installed 10080. That solved a few issues, but introduced some unfortunate new ones, including the need to uninstall the graphics card driver once or twice a day to deal with a blank display issue.

That brings us to Build 10122. To get a sense of how the latest build works, I updated my Dell Venue 8 Pro tablet to 10122 shortly after its release. Here’s what’s new, what’s better, and what’s really broken. When reading my comments, remember that Windows 10 Build 10122 is a beta release of a product with a projected release date for sometime this summer (more specifically, late July, if AMD’s CEO was correct). In short, Build 10122 is a late beta that needs to be finalized in the next two to three months. And from what I’m seeing, it’s not looking good.

What’s new?

Microsoft claims that both the Start Menu and the ability to shift between tablet and keyboard-mouse modes — what Microsoft refers to as Continuum — is improved. This user interface dichotomy illustrates the root issue first introduced in Windows 8: There’s a distinct break between the conventional world of PCs without touch screens, and newer touch-centric tablets and all-in-one desktops. Shifting the focus away from tiled, non-overlapping Modern apps to traditional overlapping windows seemed like the right approach. I don’t see any advantage to moving back to this greater division between tablet and keyboard viewing modes.

The big news about the Microsoft Edge browser, according to Microsoft, is the New Tab Page. This is the formerly blank page you saw when opening a new browser tab. The New Tab Page now offers possible Web destinations. It currently displays a search box, as well as a mix of recently visited Web pages and seemingly random well-known destinations, news items, and featured Windows apps. While this may have some utility for some users, it also presents the possibility of slowing down people who simply want a blank page with a box to type a Web address into. Depending on the speed of your Internet connection, all the content pulled to fill the New Tab Page could significantly slow your workflow.

What’s better?

One bright spot: The upgrade process to Build 10122 didn’t delete my Bluetooth driver, as previous Build upgrades did. Past Build upgrades required me running the Dell Bluetooth driver installer each time to regain the use of my Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. And, two days into using Build 10122, I have not been forced to delete the display driver and have it automatically reinstall in order to see the Windows interface again. So that’s good.

What’s broken?

When I turned on the tablet a day after upgrading to Build 10122, the above error window appeared. Signing out, as the error window suggests, did not fix the problem. Fortunately, a restart did.

Some problems showed up much earlier. The People Hub, for example, consistently crashes on launch. The Mail app launches, but will not sync with any IMAP4 mail server I tried. This is especially annoying, because the Mail app in previous builds had delivered the most trouble-free IMAP4 account setup I had ever seen on any platform. The WiFi stack, which has not been stable in past builds, seems no better in Build 10122. As in past builds, WiFi access may be lost at a moment’s notice. Turning WiFi access off and then back on sometimes fixes the problem, but not always.

One difficult-to-repeat, but immensely irritating problem is that the Edge browser will sometimes lose all current tabs after Windows 10 Build 10122 is woken up from sleep. And switching from tablet to desktop view sometimes results in open applications, such as conventional pre-Windows 8 software or the Windows App Store full-screen apps, being reduced to tiny windows. Some of these windows cannot be expanded to a useful size.

Wrap-up

After all these negative comments, remember once again that this is (1) a beta release and (2) a release known to be somewhat unstable given its Fast Ring release status. However, with only a few months to go before Microsoft hits its self-declared “sometime this summer” release deadline, it is concerning to see the kinds of major user interface changes the company is making from build to build since late last year.

While you can look at this in a positive way, by saying Microsoft is responding to its test users’ input, I wonder about how stable the Windows 10 design strategy is given the giant shifts in focus between touch display users and keyboard users. And, having been involved in Windows beta testing since the Chicago era (Windows 95), I do not recall seeing this lack of focus and instability in the past. And that includes Windows Vista’s beta period.

The earlier Windows 10 shift to allow overlapping Windows Store Apps, the return of a Start Menu with rich information, and integrating Cortana speech and search technology were all welcome changes from Windows 8. However, after using Build 10122 for a few days, it is now unclear to me what Windows 10 will deliver to what Microsoft hopes will be one billion eventual customers.

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